Volkswagen, plus their sibling Audi, deliver a wide array of diesel
powered cars, SUVs, and CUVs to its US customers with just two engines.
Under the hood of large vehicles is a 3.0-liter V-6. In cars and small CUVs
is a 2.0-liter diesel that, in our Passat SEL, delivers an EPA rated 31
City and 43 Highway miles per gallon of fuel. Fuel economy, less gallons
per mile, is what this story is about.

We like diesels. They are powerful in a way that’s useful at
every onramp or stop light; buckets of torque. Torque is the push you
expect when you step on the pedal and abundant torque is what diesel
engines produce. They also are more fuel efficient than gasoline engines
and it is this promise we put to the test on a road trip from central
Michigan to St. Louis, Missouri. To spoil the ending, after almost 1200
miles we averaged 46.7 miles from every gallon.

Our German engineered Passat GLS was built at the Volkswagen Chattanooga Assembly plant, which began Passat production in May 2011, its TDI engines produced in Salzgitter, Germany or Polkowice, Poland. It ideally suited our long-planned tactical trip to St. Louis. The Plan: depart late on Thursday, two days later return before midnight; drive fast, drive steady, bio-breaks as necessary.
depart late on Thursday, two days later return before midnight; drive fast,

We began with about 150 miles of around town driving already
accumulated, headed towards Indianapolis and St. Louis, then rested our
heads. In those eight hours we’d reached a some solid conclusions.
One, neither of us particularly cared for the seat engineering. We found
the front seats lacked support below the belt, and that they squeezed
shoulders uncomfortably. Though of good leather with Dinamica® suede-ish
inserts we had a hard time getting comfortable. Second, while the
navigation maps were great, easily displaying Points Of Interest and
swiftly scaling, the system itself was slow to accept alphanumeric
destination input. It also was very fussy about destination input.
Otherwise the Fender Premium system / touch-screen navigation system was
easy to use. Of note, this particular Fender system must have been wonky as
it had very little bass.

Passat GLS competes against family cars like Accord, Altima, Fusion,
and Camry. All are front wheel drive, have similar instruments, safety
systems including air bags, electronic stability controls, and assisted
braking. They’re nearly equally tall with similar lengths, widths,
and wheelbase and they hold their value about equally (at 5 years Passat
dips a bit) so the biggest differences are VW’s longer no-charge
scheduled maintenance (36 months/36,000 miles) and 12 year (!)
anti-corrosion warranty. In comparison the biggest difference is the TDI
diesel engine with about 30% more torque than other I-4 engines, fuel
economy numbers that are real, and enhanced resale value.

The interior of our 2013 Passat GLS appeared nearly as elegant as an
Audi. Everything fitted together perfectly, the interior was quiet,
everything was within reach. With a Cornsilk (we’d call it off white)
interior, it is handsome, open and inviting. However Moonrock (gray) or
Titan Black would better hide stains. At first glance the trunk opening
appeared limited. But a full sized suitcase was loaded in upright position
and disappeared from sight. Passat’s 15.9 cubic feet of space would
easily swallow four (or more) sets of golf clubs despite, easily coexisting
with 102 cubic feet of interior volume. That’s generous space for
five passengers and there’s 39 inches of rear leg room. We also
appreciated voluminous in-door bins for storing larger drinks and large
sandwiches. Standard features for the top-of-line GLS include the Fender
audio system, dual automatic climate controls, 8-way power front seats with
driver’s memory, keyless access and push-button start. With the
premium audio system comes four years of SiriusXM traffic and three months
of SiriusXM travel information (weather, fuel price, sports scores, movie
listing, stocks), and navigation with a backup camera.

The window sticker we received said the EPA rated this turbo-diesel
at 30 mpg in the city and 40 mpg on the highway. That has since been
updated to 31/43. The Passat TDI easily meets those numbers and can exceed
them unless you use all 236 pound feet of torque and all the DSG (direct
shifting gearbox) gears, hard. Driving a turbo-diesel requires different
technique if you want maximum fuel economy. It’s both easy and
difficult; just let the torque do the work. Accelerate a bit slower than
you might with a gas engine and, once at cruising speed, if you need to
pass try to avoid a downshift. It really is that easy. In around town
driving we beat the EPA, recording 37.7 mpg.

Have you noticed a total lack of the usual diesel complaints, noise
and smelly fuel? True, the fuel has a strong smell, but since low sulfur
fuel was mandated in 2006, it is less strong than gasoline and diesel noise
is just gone.

The Passat handles with competence and is very sporting, though not
a competitor for a GTI of Audi S6. For instance on an off camber, downhill
turn we noticed slight “jinking” at the rear due to the
additional 200 pounds of the diesel engine—which is with 13 pounds of
premium V-6 gasoline engines. Expect the same from a Passat V-6. It is
subtle and hard to discern.

We filled up shortly before arriving in St. Louis, and upon
departure two days later noted a remaining range of over 700 miles
according to the trip computer. Our trip notes say that “At about 75
miles per hour the tach reads a bit over 2200 rpm. We’ve been keeping
the cruise control set at 7-9 mph over the posted limit (we call it
“cop minus 2”) and our overall fuel economy has increased to 47
miles per gallon.”

Our verdict? This is a very serious competitor for Camry, Accord,
Fusion and the others in its class. If you are serious about fuel economy
and light on the throttle, setting your cruise control at 1800 rpm (about
68 mph) you’d likely get over 50+ mpg in the real world. We’re
also very satisfied to recommend this car as a family vehicle with huge
capacity for family trips, as well as visits to the links with a foursome.

Although Passat is not billed as a performance car its taught handling and
easy acceleration make it sporting to drive. Other than our discomfort with
the seats and navigation system we couldn’t have asked for better.
However, if it were our dollars we’d choose the Passat TDI SE with
sunroof at $26,225 over the Passat TDI SEL Premium ($33,710) and use the
savings for a great aftermarket sound system and a dash mounted smart
phone. We’d also lay down the $375 for a rear decklid spoiler
‘cause we’re stylish.